December 28, 2006

WM 5.0 SNAPI: When you need more than PhoneSignalStrength can provide

Got a piece of information I did lot of R&D on (in my previous company :-)!!! 

Hello All -
I am new to WM 5.0 but enjoying it.  Rory's screencasts (http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=209784) have been very helpful.
However, the app I am developing (an enterprise app for determining cellular coverage in a given location) seems to be limited by the SNAPI abstraction.  That is, Microsoft.WindowsMobile.Status.SystemProperty.PhoneSignalStrength gives me "phone signal strength, expressed as a percentage of full strength" but that value is not actually useful in more technical applications.  Can anyone help answer any of these questions:
What is the actual RSSI value? A percentage such as that returned by PhoneSignalStrength is a fraction.  In this case, it is probably the current RSSI divided by the maximum RSSI.  I need to know the current RSSI - either directly or by deriving from the percentage and maximum RSSI.  Does anyone know how to access these values?
Is there a way to get the current Bit Error Rate (BER)?  Many modems offer this in response to an AT command.  It would be almost as helpful as RSSI.
For that matter, does anyone know of a way to send AT commands directly to the modem and get the response?  The modems have a ton of troubleshooting tools (that admittedly may be modem-specific) that would be great to have in a mobile device that relies on said modem.
Thanks for any insights or advice.
- Hank

Source: WM 5.0 SNAPI: When you need more than PhoneSignalStrength can provide
Originally published on Wed, 27 Dec 2006 01:05:10 GMT by HankJones